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Report furnished to apex court says appointment by previous government was based on favouritism and personal friendship. — File

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has found blatant violation of laws and rules and general principles of honesty, transparency and fairness in the appointment of Shiekh Imranul Haq, former managing director of the Pakistan State Oil (PSO), by the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.

In a report furnished before the Supreme Court, the anti-corruption watchdog stated: “During the course of inquiry, evidences showed that the appointment of former PSO MD Sheikh Imranul Haq was illegal and was not made in a transparent manner.”

While hearing a case pertaining to exorbitant/unreasonable taxing, cess, duty and fee on petroleum products, a three-judge SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, had directed the bureau to inquire into appointments of officers who were drawing Rs1.5 million or more as their monthly salary.

On July 1, the caretaker government had increased petrol price by Rs7.54 to Rs99.50 per litre whereas the diesel price went up by Rs14 to Rs119.3. Similarly, kerosene price was increased by Rs3.36 to Rs87.7. As the price surge raised quite a furore among the general public, the SC took suo motu notice and initiated legal proceedings. Subsequently, the caretaker cabinet in another meeting on July 7 reduced the prices of petrol by Rs4.26 per litre to Rs95.24 from earlier Rs99.50. The price of high speed diesel was dropped by Rs6.37 per litre to Rs112.94 per litre.

Report furnished to apex court says appointment by previous government was based on favouritism and personal friendship through a tailor-made ad

After completing an inquiry into the appointments in the state-owned oil marketing company, NAB explained that Sheikh Imranul Haq as acting PSO MD received monthly salary of Rs4.95 million, whereas PSO’s deputy managing director (finance) Yaqoob Sattar was getting a hefty package of Rs2.76 million per month. The bureau alleged that the remuneration package of Mr Haq was not duly approved by the competent authority.

The NAB report stated that Mr Haq’s appointment was based on favouritism and personal friendship through a tailor-made advertisement, as he had no experience in the field of oil marketing. The appointment was made without any assessment and competition with other shortlisted candidates, it stated.

According to the bureau, evidence and record showed that there were blatant violation of laws and rules and general principles of honesty, transparency and fairness set by the SC for the appointment of managing director or chief executive officer in a public sector enterprise.

Besides, the report said, there were evidences that Mr Haq had a conflict of interest with the PSO due to an LNG agreement with his ex-employer (Engro Corporation). It also alleged that he misused his authority as MD by promoting Mr Sattar to the position of deputy managing director within a month of assuming charge. The anti-corruption watchdog stated the ministry of petroleum and natural resources was kept out of the loop and no internal competitive process, which was a mandatory requirement, was followed, adding the promotion also appeared to be based on personal friendship as Yaqoob Sattar had ratified the pay package of Mr Haq just before joining and both of them had been colleagues in Engro Corporation.

The bureau report informed the apex court about the statements of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former petroleum minister, former petroleum minister secretary Arshad Mirza and joint secretary Syed Toufeeq Shah. All of them were sent questionnaires and called by NAB through notices. During the course of inquiry, NAB also seized a number of documents namely original note sheet regarding the appointment of MD-PSO, correspondence file, original note sheet, letter received from the prime minister office, personal file and pay slips, articles of association and memorandum of association of PSO, recruitment record etc.

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Comments (12) Closed

Chacha Jee

Dec 09, 2018 08:50am

PM Imran Khan paid few lakh Rupees for his income tax. Does his tax justify his life style? And, this under payment of personal or family income taxes by Pakistani Rich and Elite is the Issue for Pakistan.

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Anti_Corruption_Pakistani

Dec 09, 2018 09:05am

NAB is going nuts. Yesterday, NAB failed to provide any evidence against SS!

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Mustafa Kamal

Dec 09, 2018 09:20am

In last 25 years How many PSO MD’s appointed have oil or relevant industry experiences? Or any other state institution the respective CEO has the relevant experience? Atleast he is qualified & has diversified experience related to oil industry.

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Ikram

Dec 09, 2018 09:38am

Take money back from this crony but do not leave the people responsible for appointing him unpunished irrespective of who they are

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Jalbani Baloch

Dec 09, 2018 10:21am

All appointments in PSO and other giant industrial enterprises from top slot to lower level positions, are made through back-doors. I challenge that hardly any opening in PSO and such other productive enterprises are opened on merit basis. With the PTI coming into power, we hope that appointments in any government, semi government or even private enterprises, will be made purely on merit basis. In this regard, I suggest that at federal all the positions may be advertised in newspapers, and appointments be made through Federal Public Service Commission. In this context, the Govt. of Pakistan may undertake such measures to strengthen the capacity of FPSC to cater for such expanded role. No appointment be made without advertisement in any organization including Banks and through the FCPS.

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Danish

Dec 09, 2018 12:10pm

Former PSO MD must be charged immediately for appointment and the person who authorised his appointment also punished for favouritism In future NAB must have power to appoint all higher post including President PM chief minister etc to save time for unnecessary cases after appintment

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Concerned citizen and thinker

Dec 09, 2018 01:19pm

Disgusted buy the powers provided to NAB, they must be held accountable for the state of the country as well. This case is a non starter. I don't know a better person for this position, a patriot. NAB should be held to account for the fiction they dream up of.

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Shahzad

Dec 09, 2018 01:22pm

Both NA and the newspaper reporting as stupid as it can get. NAB and SCP should study appointment process of big companies across globe, a skill that both (NAB & SCP) does not have. A clear case of overstepping their skill set.

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fairplay

Dec 09, 2018 01:25pm

@Danish, agree

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jaba

Dec 09, 2018 01:45pm

The entire board was filled with personal friends of Nawaz Shareef, everybody should be investigated!!

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amir

Dec 09, 2018 01:51pm

yes he was PM friends of N -league. There are many others like him sitting in the system even now a days.

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Maxim sharif

Dec 09, 2018 03:22pm

Looking at results of PSO objectively from 2015 to 18, I see a number of improvements. Look at revenue, ROCE, ROI and dividends they have all gone up considerably. The best way to judge a mgr performance is by numbers. If he has performed for betterment of the company the question of his appointment is respect to GOP doesn't stand anymore but as an individual a person has a veil of law and board of the company is authorized to appoint CEO He can be asked for any illegal acts or loss of money to Exchequer, rest is a blatant waste of time. We always look in the past and can't see the future. Very sad.